How do you pull off a “Heist”? Ask the folks who did. That’s the subject of this new six-part Netflix docuseries. It explores the curious people who perpetrated some of the biggest robberies in recent history, elaborately planned operations where they schemed in plain sight.
Each episode offers interviews with the celebrated thieves as well as elaborate reenactments of their great capers, including a Las Vegas casino robbery, a Miami airport knockoff and an unassuming father who swindled millions from a Kentucky bourbon distillery.
In the first, we meet the woman behind the Vegas caper. Raised in a dysfunctional Buffalo home, she fell in with a charming poet who used his way with words to walk out of prison, well short of serving his murder sentence.
A dark, charismatic figure who dabbled in tarot cards, Satanism and tantric sex, he was catnip to a woman whose nursing career was ended by drug addiction and whose psychic scars date back to her druggy dad’s louche lifestyle and abandonment by her birth mother and brutalization by her wicked stepmother.
Unfortunately, “Heist” accents the “Ocean’s Eleven” aspects of each robbery instead of fully exploring the damaged characters behind them. At the end of the day, this emphasis reminds us of how much Ring-a-Ding-Ding you need to make these logistics interesting. Whether it’s the old Rat Pack or its modern Brad Pitt and George Clooney evocation, they distract us from the banality of the process, the setting, and ultimately, the motivation.
Call me old-fashioned, but pursuing large sums of money for its own sake is ultimately not terribly interesting. I’m not saying that as a moralist, but as somebody who has to watch a lot of stories unfold. In interesting, or at least entertaining narratives, people pursue money as a means to an end. “The Brady Bunch” kids need to put on a show to raise the cash to save the day! Somebody needs to pay for Aunt Betty’s chemo or replace the scholarship money swindled by the villain of the piece. Without some justification, grabbing $2 million from a cash delivery truck in and of itself is no more compelling than stealing a waitress’ $10 tip, no matter how much you tart things up with Las Vegas glitz.
— Researchers build an ersatz predator to study Great Whites on “Mechashark” (8 p.m., Discovery). Followed by “The Real Sharknado” (9 p.m.), featuring conversations with Ian Ziering and Tara Reid, and “Return to Lair of the Great White” (10 p.m.).
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Flashbacks for Dean and Ethan on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— “Jimmy Kimmel Live! (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14) and “NBA Countdown” (8:30 p.m.) anticipate the big game.
— Conflagrations of a suspicious nature on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— The Bucks and Suns meet in Game 4 of the NBA finals (9 p.m., ABC).
— Pressure mounts for the sixth season of “Dr. Pimple Popper” (9 p.m., TLC) to erupt.
— Ruzek’s dad takes a powder on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
A damaged man (James Spader) uses his camera to elicit intimate confessions from a woman (Andie MacDowell) whose husband (Peter Gallagher) is spending a little too much time with her younger sister (Laura San Giacomo) in the 1989 indie drama “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” (8 p.m., TMCX), directed by Steven Soderbergh, whose latest drama, “No Sudden Move,” recently debuted on HBO Max.
SERIES NOTES
Julie Chen hosts “Big Brother” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Michelin star chef Nancy Silverton throws down a pasta challenge on “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … A cryptic map proves hard to crack on “Kung Fu” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).
The uninhibited in pursuit of the uncomplicated on “Love Island” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … Bakers rise to the occasion on “Crime Scene Kitchen” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … Police remain in the dark about a blind woman’s murder on “In the Dark” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14) … A police station bombing puts the city on edge on “S.W.A.T.” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Mindy Kaling and Wally Baram are booked on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Don Cheadle, Cecily Strong and BTS on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Florence Pugh, Questlove, Walk The Moon and Charlie Benante visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Andra Day, SG Lewis and Nile Rodgers appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
